Unlike Kevin and Jessica (part 1/2/3/4/5/6/7), I was smart enough not to watch Jim “Craps” Doyle give his (last) State of the State address. I would have thrown up after hearing the opening remarks. Oh, what the heck, let’s take a look at them (from JSOnline) –
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Mr. Speaker Pro-Tempore, Members of the Legislature, Lieutenant Governor Lawton, Constitutional Officers, Supreme Court Justices, Members of the Cabinet, Tribal Leaders, and fellow citizens of Wisconsin.
STOP THE TAPE! Notice who gets the last mention; us poor schmuks who pay the bills and don’t necessarily donate to the Craps War Chest. Roll the tape.
Three years ago, I stood in this building and put my hand on the Bible. I took an oath to lead this state during a time of challenge:
-Our deficit was out of control.
-Our economy was out of steam.
=Too many of our citizens were out of work.
=And for many people, government seemed out of touch.While we still have a long way to go, just think how far we’ve come.
We cut spending and solved the worst fiscal crisis in our history "¦ without raising taxes.
STOP THE TAPE! What exactly do you call a $2 billion structural deficit (twice the one that Craps inherited)? What about all the fees that went way, way up? And the methods used to “solve” things temporarily weren’t exactly smart (fund transfers up the wazoo, dropping 8% of K-12 school financing for the first 2 years, resulting in massive school-property-tax increases, un-constitutional expansions of Indian gaming with some tribes subsequently withholding payment). All this while other states, such as California, which faced even worse financial crises than Wisconsin, are now flush with cash. Roll the tape.
We invested in education while passing a property tax freeze.
STOP THE TAPE! Explain why property tax levies went up an average of 4% this year, after restoring the recent-historic 2/3rds state funding for education (which, BTW, Craps cut in his first budget). Roll the tape.
We protected SeniorCare for more than 90,000 seniors"¦
And together, we created more than 140,000 new jobs.
STOP THE TAPE! The job creation was no real thanks to anybody in Madison. While there were very limited business reforms, the federal tax cuts had more to do with the creation of jobs than anything else. Further, thanks to a Doyle-packed Wisconsin Supreme Court, the business litigation climate has recently changed way for the worse. Okay, I’ve had enough; I’m feeling nauseous.
I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the coverage from the Old Media. For those few of you that get the print edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the headline on their coverage of the State of the State address is “Doyle touts ‘affordability agenda'”. That’s funny; I didn’t see anything about government cutting back in the future. I didn’t see any serious proposal from Doyle about making government more affordable.
Just in case you came here first (dunno why), there’s a lot more reaction here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (if that seems a bit biased against Craps – tough; I’m a conservative, and unlike the presstitutes, I don’t hide that I am highly-opinionated).
